Rumble Racing follows up last year's NASCAR Rumble on Playstation and it carries on the tradition of fast-paced and exciting arcade-style racing that made it's predecessor a fairly worthwhile title. Gone obviously though is the NASCAR licence and this has allowed EA a lot more freedom to develop it's car and track design and to open up the gameplay to other elements. I nearly said 'new' instead of 'other' then but I must say that what really hit me about RR was how well it combines so many of the best ideas from several past games to produce a really fresh, if not so innovative, take on the whole arcade racer genre. The power-ups dotted around the numerous tracks on offer reminded me instantly of Super Mario Kart believe it or not but there's also elements of Daytona USA, Twisted Metal, Vigilante 8, Ridge Racer, Destruction Derby and SSX all chucked into the mix as well. So although originality isn't it's strongpoint the combination of all those influences actually make it one of the most playable games around!

Gameplaywise you start out with some nice straightforward menus that allow you to access and tweak all the usual options plus some unique to the game. Difficulty settings are Forgiving, Intense and No Mercy although at least a couple of your CPU opponents appear to take a lot of pleasure out of always playing at the latter no matter what setting you choose! Power-ups can be toggled on or off depending on your desire for either plain, flat-out racing or complete mayhem. The Twister power-up has to be seen to be believed for it's sheer magnitude and glorious execution! There's 12 different power-ups in total and you can carry 2 ready to go at anytime while racing which can be either launched in front of you or dropped behind.

There are several different modes of play with 'Championship' being the main single-player one. Here you'll spend most of your time in order to unlock the huge number of extra cars (36 in total with 3 versions of each and all having varying abilities and handling) plus each of the new tracks and races. You start with a limited vehicle choice in the Rookie League and each trophy round will see you battle it out in a series of 3 races on 3 different tracks. When you win each series you're awarded a trophy and will progress to the next round. All trophies won can be viewed anytime in the Hall Of Champs accessed from the Main Menu. Located somewhere in each of the tracks are 'easter eggs' which you must also seek out to gain all the secret vehicles, some of which err on the slightly bizarre side – the XXS-Tomcat rocket car being probably the most extreme example!

Other modes include –

'Single Race' where you can compete against another human or up to 7 CPU opponents or both on all your unlocked tracks.

'Stunt Challenge' which has you trying to perform as many wild stunts as possible in a timed run by yourself or with a friend on the tracks best suited to this mode to gain the highest possible score. Here you can drive in whatever direction you choose and utilise the tracks however you want to perform the best tricks.